Significant quantities of textile fabric are employed in the construction of domestic and business furnishings, room dividers and acoustic panels. Manufactures of such textile fabrics are cognizant of the end-use of their materials in these constructions and have looked to improve the aesthetic qualities of the fabrics. Further, manufactures have also taken safety into consideration and looked to ways in which the textile fabric can be imparted with improved levels of flame retardancy.
The production of conventional textile fabrics is known to be a complex, multi-step process. The production of fabrics from staple fibers begins with the carding process where the fibers are opened and aligned into a feedstock known as sliver. Several strands of sliver are then drawn multiple times on drawing frames to further align the fibers, blend, improve uniformity as well as reduce the diameter of the sliver. The drawn sliver is then fed into a roving frame to produce roving by further reducing its diameter as well as imparting a slight false twist. The roving is then fed into the spinning frame where it is spun into yarn. The yarns are next placed onto a winder where they are transferred into larger packages. The yarn is then ready to be used to create a fabric.
For a woven fabric, the yarns are designated for specific use as warp or fill yarns. The fill yarn packages (which run in the cross direction and are known as picks) are taken straight to the loom for weaving. The warp yarns (which run on in the machine direction and are known as ends) must be further processed. The packages of warp yarns are used to build a warp beam. Here the packages are placed onto a warper, which feeds multiple yarn ends onto the beam in a parallel array. The warp beam yarns are then run through a slasher where a water-soluble sizing is applied to the yarns to stiffen them and improve abrasion resistance during the remainder of the weaving process. The yarns are wound onto a loom beam as they exit the slasher, which is then mounted onto the back of the loom. Here the warp and fill yarns are interwoven in a complex process to produce yardages of textile fabric.
In contrast, the production of nonwoven fabrics from staple fibers is known to be more efficient than traditional textile processes as the fabrics are produced directly from the carding process with a topical treatment of the nonwoven fabric readily being applied.
Nonwoven fabrics are suitable for use in a wide-variety of applications where the efficiency with which the fabrics can be manufactured provides a significant economic advantage for these fabrics versus traditional textiles. However, nonwoven fabrics have commonly been disadvantaged when fabric properties are compared, particularly in terms of surface abrasion, pilling and durability in multiple-use applications. Hydroentangled fabrics have been developed with improved properties, which are a result of the entanglement of the fibers or filaments in the fabric providing improved fabric integrity. Subsequent to entanglement, fabric durability can be further enhanced by the application of binder compositions and/or by thermal stabilization of the entangled fibrous matrix. However, the use of such means to obtain fabric durability comes at the cost of a stiffer and less appealing fabric.
The resulting textile or nonwoven fabric requires further processing before a suitable material is available for the construction of furnishings. Fabric constructed by either mechanism is essentially planar, having little in way of macroscopic asperities, let alone, a three-dimensional aesthetic quality. It has been necessary in the art to further treat the fabric with embossing techniques or complex foaming agents in order to impart the fabric with a multi-planar, aesthetic quality. In addition, depending upon whether or not the textile fabric was woven from costly flame-retardant staple fiber, a subsequent topical treatment containing an appropriate flame-retardant chemistry is required.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,485,706, to Evans, hereby incorporated by reference, discloses processes for effecting hydroentanglement of nonwoven fabrics. More recently, hydroentanglement techniques have been developed which impart images or patterns to the entangled fabric by effecting hydroentanglement on three-dimensional image transfer devices. Such three-dimensional image transfer devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,764, hereby incorporated by reference, with the use of such image transfer devices being desirable for providing a fabric with enhanced physical properties as well as an aesthetically pleasing appearance.
In preparing an imaged nonwoven material by the present invention for use in furnishings, the material has also been found to have inherent physical properties that render the material eminently suitable for wall coverings, window coverings, upholstery, and drapery applications, which are hereby referenced as co-pending applications.
Heretofore, attempts have been made to develop flame-retardant nonwoven fabrics exhibiting the necessary aesthetic and physical properties for durable consumer applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,163, to Schwartz, hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a three-dimensional ceiling board facing. This patent contemplates selectively coating a flame-retardant substrate with a print paste consisting of a foamable plastisol. By then exposing said-coated substrate to an elevated temperature, the plastisol increases variably in height under the influence of expanding thermoplastic microspheres, forming a roughened or “pebbled” surface.
A construct is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,897, to Seward, whereby an initial woven textile fabrics receives thereupon a heat dissipating metallic foil followed by a fibrous batt. The application of a subsequent mechanical needling procedure integrates the layers into a unitary construct.
There are a number of Japanese patents directed to nonwoven fabrics used as a component in wall covering fabrication. JP10168756 to Kawano, et al., utilizes a flame-retardant spunbond containing diguanidine phosphate laminated to a wallpaper backing. A wallpaper is disclosed in JP10131097 to Takeuchi, et al., whereby a nonowoven fabric is adhesively bonded to wallpaper backing, the adhesive containing a significant amount of a high specific gravity fireproofing agent. JP3251452 to Nakakawara, et al., discloses an alternate foam texturing process wherein a uniform foam layer is initially applied to a nonwoven substrate, then a solvent is printed thereon to reductively pattern the laminate. A final patent of interest is JP11335958 to Nanbae, et al., whereby a two layered nonwoven fabric, each layer consisting of less than 20% thermally fusible fibers is subjected to an embossing process.
As can be seen in the prior art, there has not been an effective melding of three-dimensional aesthetic qualities with flame-retardant properties in a fabric suitable for furnishing, window covering, and wall covering applications.